A Proposal of a Different Sort
by KatieZfan
Summary: NWZ. This is my AU (Alternate Universe) idea of what might have happened with the "Proposal in the Cave" from 'An Affair to Remember", early in Season 4.


A Proposal of a Different Sort

By KatieZFan

June 2014

This is my AU (Alternate Universe) idea of what might have happened with the "Proposal in the Cave" from 'An Affair to Remember", early in Season 4. I do not own the characters; I just like to play with them. Also, no infringement is intended on anyone's copyright.

Rated: K+, Romance, Friendship, Chapters – 1, Complete. English, published June 2014. Words: 5854.

**Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz**

She awoke slowly, still groggy from being knocked out when the wagon had overturned. Her head was turned sideways, her arms pillowing her head on top of a desk. Whose desk, she wondered.

Unsure of where she was, Victoria looked around carefully but recognized nothing. That is, until her gaze fell upon Zorro, sitting slightly behind and beside her. He bent over her solicitously, his ungloved finger smoothing back a curl behind her ear.

"How are you feeling, Querida? You took a nasty fall when the wagon overturned."

"The bandits! The thousand pesos I was taking to Santa Paola to pay off the tavern mortgage – did they…" she couldn't think too clearly but she remembered bandits. She struggled to sit up in the chair, her head still throbbing a little.

"I am assuming they got the money. I have not been able to go and check. But don't worry, mi Amor. I will get it back for you." His voice was reassuring as his hands began to massage the crown of her head, working around to the back of it and down to her neck and up to the crown again.

She lay still on the desk with her arms tucked under her head, still struggling to wake up against the pain, which was slowly easing with his massage.

"My first concern was to get you to safety. That's why I brought you here." His fingers continued to gently stroke her crown, weaving through her hair as he trying to relieve her pain. Such talented fingers….

Zorro rose and went to the laboratory table. He lifted a beaker and poured a small amount of its liquid in a cup and offered it to her. "It will help take away the pain, Querida. Drink it up."

She tried to swallow the first sip and nearly gagged. "This is awful! What is this?"

"It's an old Indian remedy. Try to get a few more sips down, please, Victoria."

Carefully she swallowed another few sips, trying to think. He had called her mi Amor, Querida, and now Victoria. But Zorro rarely called her by her name when they were alone. He used endearments for his lady love.

So why did his voice sound so familiar? And who else called her Victoria? If only her head didn't feel so achy, maybe she could think.

They heard a sound from the area to their left where a couple wide stair steps were. "What was that?" She wondered who was there with them. Zorro had a helper?

Quickly he got up and went around a small wall, bending down to pick up the tray Felipe had placed there. He brought it back and set it down on the desk, offering Victoria a glass of lemonade with a cherry in it.

She drank the lemonade greedily, eating the cherry as well, enjoying the flavor against the awful medicine she had been made to drink. Such a treat – wait a minute, where did he get a cherry? Those were expensive and only found in the homes of rich caballeros.

"Mmmmmm… thank you, Senor." She smiled at him as he sat next to her again, trying to look at his face through the mask, without alerting him of her curiosity.

"How is your foot?" Zorro bent down to take her left foot in his hand, gently raising her skirt and testing the ankle bones and the flexibility of the foot muscles.

"Owww, that hurts a bit. But it feels only strained. I don't think it's broken. I know what that feels like." She flexed her ankle slowly, her face sad.

"I'll be doing a lot of hobbling for a while, not a good thing for a woman who runs a tavern." She smiled ruefully. "At least I didn't break my leg like I did when I was young."

"Si, when you were six and you fell out of the tree near the river." He and her brothers had been playing and swimming. She couldn't join them but stayed on the shore, climbing a nearby tree to watch.

She got so excited seeing them play in the water that she bounced up and down on the high branch and lost her balance. He could still remember standing in chest deep water watching her fall, unable to reach her in time to help.

"How do you know about that?" Her curiosity was raised at his obvious knowledge of her past.

"Oh, I heard about it from your brothers." He could hardly tell her he had been there.

"My brothers! Why would they tell you such a story?" How well did this man know her anyway? He rarely told her anything of his family and history, not willing to divulge clues to his identity. And now he was talking about something that had happened to her when she was six!

"It was a long time ago, Querida. They were only concerned about your broken leg."

She frowned, yawning. "Why am I still so tired?" Her mind was jumbled and she still couldn't figure out how he knew about the incident. Wasn't Diego playing with her brothers at the lake when she broke her leg? Her mind snapped at the thought. _Diego?_

She frowned at the man in black, unable to hide her curiosity. What was she missing?

Zorro smiled at her scowl. "It's the medicine, Querida. It helps the pain but tends to make one sleepy as well." His fingers cupped her cheek and held her as he bent toward her to give her a quick kiss, but she pulled away.

She stared at him, strangely unsure why she did not want him to kiss her. Her mind was trying to figure something out but the medicine and the tiredness made her thoughts like a bowl of mush. Diego, something about Diego….she stared at him strangely.

"Forgive me, Querida, I didn't mean to take advantage of you." Zorro tried to put the blame on himself, but he didn't understand why she drew away either. They had kissed before.

She yawned again, deeper. "I'm sorry, Zorro, it must be the medicine. But it's something else too, I just can't figure out what. My brain feels like sludge." She laid her head back down on her arms, the hard desk beneath her.

Opening one eye, she looked at him. "Do you have a pillow?" Then the eye closed and she was asleep.

He stared at her for a few moments after she had gone to sleep from the medicine, debating leaving her here by herself. Since Felipe wasn't close enough to call, he had no choice but to change clothes to go into the house. He hoped she would sleep for a good while.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Felipe, where is father?" Diego had found Felipe in the kitchen eating a snack.

_Gone to the pueblo for business,_ he signed, grabbing a cookie.

"I need you to go to the area of land where we find the tree bark and herbs needed for the pain remedy. Can you do that quickly?" He knew there was not much of the broth left and that more needed to be made.

Felipe nodded, motioning that he would go immediately.

"Gracias, and thanks also for the lemonade for Victoria. It helped wash down the bitterness of the medicine." Diego was grateful for Felipe thinking ahead.

The young man smiled and waved as he headed out the back door to saddle his pinto.

Diego stood there lost in thought for a moment, then went quickly to his bedroom. Somewhere, he had put it somewhere. He kept looking in different drawers, wondering where he could have hidden it. Something so important, you'd think he'd remember where he put it.

Suddenly he remembered. "The cave!" It was hidden in a small box in a drawer of the side table near the coatrack. How many minutes had gone by? Would she still be asleep?

**Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz**

Carefully peeking around the little dividing wall at the entrance behind the fireplace, Diego saw Victoria's head still resting on her arms and a soft snore could be heard. He tiptoed to the desk and watched her for a moment. Her breathing was even and her face relaxed.

Satisfied, he quietly walked over to the coatrack and with his back to her began to change into Zorro's clothes, unaware that Victoria had opened one eye and was watching. She could only see his back and her vision was slightly blurry, but she strained to concentrate on him.

He took off his blue jacket and white caballero shirt and reached for Zorro's black one. He draped his black cape over the jacket and shirt on the coatrack.

As he buttoned it up, he turned toward the desk to check on his lady to make sure she was still asleep. He didn't even stop to think what might happen if her eyes had been open.

She _was_ still asleep, it appeared. The motion of him turning had given her time to close her eye. Dulled by the medicine, she didn't think of keeping her eye open, only of hiding from him the fact that she was awake. They played cat and mouse, and neither was thinking straight at the time.

Just to be safe, Diego took his black pants, belt and boots and went back up to the short hallway around the corner out of her sight to change. Quickly shucking his blue caballero pants, he pulled on his black pair and affixed his belt.

Her eyes were still closed when he brought his blue pants back to hang on the coatrack, hiding it with the shirt under the cape. He left off the sword and hat for now.

Suddenly panic hit him as he realized he had forgotten the mask. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed she was still sleeping – at least he hoped she was. Still facing away, he lifted his mask and began to tie it on when he heard her speak.

"That's not necessary." She yawned deeply, her sleepy voice full of amusement.

He finished tying it anyway before he turned to face her. Something in her tone cautioned him. She sounded sluggish and tired but he wondered.

Had she observed him changing clothes? Had she seen and recognized Diego? He would treat it as if she had not, but he was going to watch her words and her behavior very carefully.

He smiled softly, going to the small table on the wall next to the coatrack and looking in the drawer. He withdrew something and put it in his pocket, but she couldn't see what it was.

He turned and walked back over to the desk where she rested. "I cannot risk unmasking yet, Querida." He sat down on the chair close to her and began to gently rub her head again. "How is the pain in your head? And your foot?"

"The head is better, gracias. Your fingers must have magic in them! But the foot still feels pained. I will be limping for a few days, is my guess. At least it's not broken." Leg – broken – what was it they had been talking about? And had she seen who she thought she saw changing clothes?

The delightful feeling of his hands on her head was making her thoughts jumbled and mixed up. What was it, she thought – they _had_ been talking about broken bones. She just couldn't remember. Sighing, she let the thoughts go.

"Querida, there is something I want to share with you. If you can keep awake for a few minutes," he chuckled. Her eyes fluttered open and she lifted her head as she made an effort to sit straight up in the chair.

"If your medicine doesn't put me back to sleep, I will be all right." Victoria held her head in her hands and looked at him curiously. "If you will not share your identity, what is it you wish to share?"

He sighed sadly. "Querida, you know that the only reason I keep my identity hidden is for your safety. For now that's the way it must be. But the time is coming, very soon I hope, when there will be no more secrets between us."

Even under the influence of the medicine, her eyes glowed with the promise in his words. His eyes held hers as he gathered his courage. He stood up and pushed his chair aside, going back down beside her on one knee.

Taking the ring from his pocket, he took her hand with his other hand. "Victoria Escalante, love of my heart," their faces were only inches apart, "will you marry me?"

Her eyes went wide and she gasped in surprise at the beautiful gold ring with its emerald center surrounded by tiny diamonds. It was not a new ring, by the look of it. A family heirloom, most likely. Only wealthy caballeros could afford such a ring, she knew.

She looked at him in shock. "You want to marry me?"

"Si, mi Preciosa." He saw her hesitation. "Please say yes!" he urged her.

She sat there in shock, still trying to shake off the sleepy effects of the medicine. "You want me to marry you, and you won't tell me who you are."

"Soon, mi Amor," he began, but she shook her head, scolding him. "It's been over four years and two different Alcaldes and we still are not together." She was _not_ convinced of "soon."

She looked at him strangely. "Do you mean to marry me as Zorro?" She shook her head, trying to clear it. The medicine was still affecting her and she couldn't comprehend his proposal.

Zorro shook his head. "I could not do that, my love. I could not keep my mask on night and day with you." He gave her a small grin. "The medicine must be jumbling your thoughts."

"I guess so, but if not as Zorro, then how could you marry me?"

"This is my mother's ring, a symbol of my promise to you that one day soon we will be together, that you will be married to the man behind the mask. I am trying to convince you that I am serious, my love." He continued to kneel next to her holding the ring and her hand.

She looked at him, her thoughts finally clearing a bit. "Please, pull your chair back over and sit by me. You cannot be comfortable kneeling like that for so long," she frowned. She was still trying to understand his proposal and what to do about it.

Grateful to get off the hard floor, he pulled his chair close to hers. He reached for her hand again, but she withheld it. His eyes narrowed and his smile turned into a small frown. "Querida?"

Victoria looked away from him for a moment. She looked around the cave, seeing the stall for Toronado but no horse, the coatrack with his black cape hiding his other clothes, the work table with its beakers, a few odd pictures on the walls, a bookcase with some books and miscellaneous furniture here and there.

Glancing back at him, she looked unsteadily into his blue eyes, remembering what she saw with her one open eye as he dressed. If I'm right, I have to try, she thought to herself. I have to know how he really feels.

"Zorro, I do not think I can marry you."

Zorro stared at her, his eyes growing large with dismay. For a moment he couldn't speak. Finally he asked, "Why not?"

Victoria looked at him sadly. "Because I have finally realized something." She paused to find the right words. She had to try to figure it out while he did not suspect. "I am in love with someone else."

Stunned, Zorro shoved his chair back away from her. Shoving the ring back in his pocket, he rose and began to pace in front of the desk. Abruptly he turned to face her. "Who?" he demanded.

"I won't tell you," she said, shaking her head. "You'll hurt him."

His face softened slightly. "What if I promise I won't?" She still would not answer. "Querida, for your sake, I would not harm him." He would only wring his neck.

She shook her head again, looking afraid.

He gazed at her in shock. "Preciosa, I thought – to quote yourself – I thought we shared certain feelings?" She shook her head sadly, still not looking at him.

He came around the desk to stand at her side, his hand gently tilting her face up. "You have led me on all this time? I don't believe it! We have kissed in private several times and you have publicly _and_ privately proclaimed your love for me over the last couple years.

"Now you say you love someone else? When did this happen?" He was puzzled and upset, unable to comprehend it.

She looked at him warily. "It didn't happen overnight." How do I say this, she thought? If I am right, he loves me, and I love him. But if I'm wrong? I'm not, am I? Did I see what I thought I saw? I must take the chance and try to make him confess.

Zorro crossed his arms and grunted. "So how long have you been in love with – whoever he is?" He snorted again. "And what of all your declarations of love to me?" As Diego he saw her almost daily in their little pueblo and he could not believe she was hiding another suitor.

Tears slowly began to fall down her face. "I truly did think I loved you, Zorro. It was not an act." Her voice cracked and she hid her face in her hands. "Perhaps I was in love with the romance of being loved by a mysterious hero. I don't know."

"What changed your mind? _**Who**_ changed your mind?" He stood there, hands on his hips, anger and confusion growing inside. He was perplexed at her behavior and her words.

"How can you say you have fallen in love with someone else _after all this time?_" He wanted to yell at her but he tried to keep his voice low and even.

Tears continued to roll slowly over her cheeks as she sat there behind the desk, facing him, her hands clasped in her lap. "You have every right to be mad – but be mad with _me_, not him."

"Him – _**who is 'him'?"**_ His eyes narrowed as he gazed at her trying to figure out what in blazes had happened to the woman who had led him to believe she loved him all this time.

The woman he became Zorro for, the woman who held his heart in her hands. And now apparently, the woman who was going to crush it and toss it aside.

She sighed, hiding a small smile behind her handkerchief. Surely he wouldn't be so upset if he didn't really love her. "It isn't his fault that I love him. I have been in love with him since we were children." She wiped her eyes with her handkerchief.

"Children! I don't understand. How could you love someone since your childhood?" Suddenly comprehension flooded him and he fought to keep a tight rein on his emotions.

He whirled around and put his back to her, grinning, trying not to laugh, his shoulders shaking. He struggled a few moments to put a frown back on his face before turning to look at her again.

Victoria was afraid for an instant. Dear heaven, he is so angry he can't even look at me. His shoulders are shaking – she gasped softly, _is he_ _laughing? _ Her lips curved into a grin, then hurriedly framed a frown as he turned back to face her.

He looked sternly at her. "You're in love with Diego de la Vega?" He made it a question to see what she would say. _Did_ she see me change clothes? More and more he began to suspect that she had. The hard part now would be to keep a straight face.

Victoria nodded. "Diego and I have been friends since our childhood, and even as he grew up I always hoped we would marry."

She gave him a pained look, unshed tears in her eyes. "I know, he is a caballero and I am only a tavern owner and a waitress. But when we were young our families were good friends and we grew up like brother and sister.

"He was always playing with my brothers, Francisco and Ramon, with me trying to tag along after them. He always treated me kindly and affectionately, not like my own brothers who teased and ran away from me.

"I don't think Diego is in love with me now, not the way I wish he was." She gave him a sad smile, desperately hoping she would get a reaction from him.

He stood motionless, his face impassive, apparently unmoved. He was afraid if he reacted, the grin that would split his face would give him away completely.

She sighed, continuing. "And it's not _his_ fault that I have had these feelings for him, even after we were grown. I daresay he doesn't even know I love him since he only treats me like a sister or a good friend." She pouted glumly. "So you see, you mustn't hurt him, he isn't really a rival."

Zorro continued to stare at her, his eyes narrowed. "I believe I have seen him teasing and flirting with you these past few weeks. Others have noticed it also, Querida." He paused. "There has been talk."

Oh, yes, he had made sure of that, teasing and flirting with her indeed. Trying to insert Diego into her life as a possible suitor, gradually edging out Zorro. And she had been responding to him, too. People _had_ noticed, and they _were_ talking.

She looked everywhere except straight at him for fear of giving herself away. "Talk? How ridiculous! He only flirts and teases me like a brother would, when I need cheering up, or just for fun to liven the day. He isn't really in love with me."

Zorro continued to stare at her, watching her squirm. "Perhaps." He would not enlighten her just yet. "But the problem, as you have stated it, is that _you_ are in love with _him_. And _not_ in love with _me_, though that is not what you have led me to believe for so long."

Victoria gave a deep sigh, trying to gauge his reaction. "It's so complicated. Since Diego came back from Madrid he has only acted like a brother, and you gave me romance. You turned my head with your attentions and I thought I was in love with you."

She glanced away from him, looking miserable. "Perhaps if I had not paid you as much attention, Diego might have considered me earlier. Besides, no one wanted to challenge Zorro for my affections."

"They might have if they knew you were only toying with me." Blue eyes stared at her coolly. He struggled to keep his face straight.

"I wasn't toying with you! At least, I didn't mean to. Besides, Diego had told me before that _he_ is in love with a lady who was in love with another man, so I never thought I had a chance with him."

Zorro's lips curved into a little grin and his eyes twinkled mischievously at Victoria. Suddenly the thought struck her. "Me!" she gasped. "No, it can't be. _Is he in love with_ _**me**_? And he thinks I am in love – with you, Zorro?"

She gasped and her hands flew to her mouth, her eyes like saucers. "The last few weeks he has been coming to the tavern far more frequently– almost every day I see him and talk to him. Why would he do that when they have two good cooks at the hacienda?

"And the past few weeks he has been actually flirting with me, but he has always acted like a brother to me in the past, so I have not paid very close attention."

Zorro cocked his head at her, pointedly. "Well, maybe I have paid him _some_ attention." She looked guiltily at him. "But why now? Is he trying to steal me away from you? Surely he cannot be planning to fight you!"

She paused, thinking. "But he _has_ been flirting with me, and you have not shown up to challenge him. Why else would he try to flirt with me? Perhaps he thinks he can win me away from you. "

A wry smile appeared on Zorro's mouth. This was becoming a comedy of errors. "That's possible, I suppose." He gazed into her deep brown eyes, amused that she finally figured it out.

He could see where this was going now, and he was going to have a _lot_ of fun teasing her first. "Perhaps you should ask him." Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this. Maybe he could offer to do the asking for her.

Victoria grunted and huffed, "I could not do that! A woman just doesn't march up to a man and ask if he loves her!" She snorted. "What should I say? Diego, am _**I **_the woman you are in love with? The woman who is in love with another man – Zorro?"

Looking at him, she groaned again. "That would be _so_ embarrassing. And suppose I am wrong? It would be doubly embarrassing."

"Would you like _me_ to ask him?" Folding his arms over his chest, Zorro sat down on the side of the desk, close to Victoria. He chuckled gently at her distress, his eyes shining at hers.

"Oh, you! I can see that now! And if he said yes, what would you do? Challenge him to a duel? You know he could never defeat you!" She glared at him angrily, her mind confused, still trying to figure things out.

His hand reached out and gently caressed her cheek. Victoria's face was flushed with anger, her thoughts chaotic as she felt the gentle awareness of his fingers stroking her.

His fingers continued to gently brush her forehead, smoothing a curl behind her ear. "What if I promise not to challenge him to a duel?" he smiled, watching her get even madder. His fingers trailed a path down her cheek and lightly over her lips.

She swatted ineffectually at his hand. "You are horrible, Zorro! You would deliberately embarrass me in front of him no matter what his answer, even if you didn't fight him. He is my friend, and even though I love him, I hide it to keep our friendship."

He chuckled to himself, thinking of when he had changed clothes in the cave. She had to know or she would never let him caress her like this. She couldn't resist him, either way.

Her tears began to flow again. Was she going to have to rip that mask off to make him admit the truth? His caressing fingers were causing havoc with her train of thought as they trailed down over her chest just above her blouse, stroking the top of her breasts and returning to cup her cheek.

He leaned over to give her lips a quick kiss before she could object. "Querida, there is a way to resolve all this." His face softened with yearning as he kissed her forehead.

"Do not kiss me again, Senor!" she said, pushing his hand away once more.

"Very well, that was our last kiss." He grinned at her scowl. "We shall have to break up in public – slowly, over a couple weeks, I think, or it won't be believable after all these years."

He paused thoughtfully. "You must say you want a home and a family and you are tired of waiting for me. You must be very angry at me because I refuse to unmask for you."

She stared at him as if he were crazy. "What are you talking about? Fight publicly? Why would we do that? What good would it do?"

"You want a husband, a home and a family, right?" She nodded. "With Diego, preferably?" He chuckled wickedly at her scowl, cupping her face with his fingers again and caressing her soft cheek with his thumb.

Her eyes half closed as she inclined her head toward his hand, leaning into the feel of his caress. He couldn't help smiling; she was being obvious without even realizing it.

"So then, Zorro and Victoria must part company so that Diego can have a free arena to court you. You would like that, wouldn't you?" he continued to tease her, cradling the back of her head with his hand, stroking her neck gently.

Victoria nodded, her eyes almost drifting closed at his soothing touch. "But I don't know for sure if Diego is in truly in love with me or just flirting like a brother." Her eyes fluttered open to stare into his deep blue ones shining at her through his mask.

She shook her head sadly, determined to find out, once and for all. "I love him too much to lose his friendship completely. So even though I flirt back, I have never let on to him that _I_ am in love with _him_." _Please_ tell me you love me, she begged silently.

Tears began to fall down her cheeks again. She wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all but the touch of his hand felt so pleasurable. _Why_ was he caressing her so?

Shifting closer to her on the desk, he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. "It's too late, Querida. He already knows that you love him."

She looked inquiringly at Zorro through eyes darkened with the desire his caressing hands had created.

"There is one thing you have not realized," Zorro whispered. Bewilderment conflicted with the desire that was beginning to show on her face.

His blue eyes sparkled as his lips hovered close to hers. "Diego does indeed love you. What is more, he has wanted to marry you for a _long_ time." Warm lips closed over hers as he gently held her face in his hands.

Gently he teased he seam of her mouth with his tongue and she gasped slightly, opening to him as he deepened the kiss. Sliding off the desk, he pulled her up from her chair and quickly sat down on it, pulling her onto his lap, being careful of her injured foot.

She shifted in his hold, melting into his embrace as she wrapped her arms around his neck while he continued to kiss her. She felt like fireworks were going off inside her as she was held in his embrace.

He grinned to himself, enjoying her response to his cuddling. She knew, all right. He knew she would never allow him the liberty of such caresses if she didn't know. And he had just told her that Diego loved her. Knowing that _he_ _was_ Diego would have given her the final freedom to accept his embrace.

When they finally they came up for air, he kissed her nose and leaned his forehead on hers. His eyes gleamed at the warmth in her eyes. "There's one other thing that I thought of."

She stared through the black mask at his deep blue eyes, still reeling from that kiss. "What is that?" she said uncertainly. Her mind couldn't form a coherent thought right now.

Except, wait a minute – she had been kissing – _Zorro_? Didn't he just say they needed to part? Then why was he kissing her like that? What was going on here?

"Do you remember what color outfit I was wearing when I came back into the cave?" His lips curved into a tiny little grin, hovering over hers.

She nodded, her response immediate. "Your light blue caballero outfit with a white shirt. But what has that got to do with anything…." Her eyes grew wide in shock as she watched a huge grin spread across his face and he began to laugh.

She started to speak but he silenced her with another long tender kiss. "I thought so." He grinned at her, starting to chuckle again, holding her gently as he placed little kisses all over her face and down her neck while he stroked her back, causing her to shiver.

"You knew!" The shock fled as she realized he was laughing at the whole thing. She grew still in his arms, feeling his hands caressing her back as he placed more slow kisses on her cheeks and neck. "You aren't angry at me?"

Hugging her close, he looked into her eyes, still chuckling. "No, my love. I had my suspicions when you started talking about Diego and wouldn't look at me. And earlier when I put my mask back on and you said, 'That's not necessary,' something in your tone made me think twice." He looked amused as she blushed in his arms.

"I was afraid, Diego, and I tried to use the situation to find out what your real feelings were. I have loved you for a long time, but I wasn't really sure if _Diego_ truly loved me the same way, even though we had been flirting." She kissed his cheek shyly. "Forgive me?"

In answer he took her hands and placed them on the knot on the back of his head. Slowly she untied the mask until it fell away to reveal the smiling face of Diego de la Vega.

Victoria tossed the mask onto the desk as Diego wove his fingers through her hair, pulling her close for their first kiss without the mask.

Her fingers laced themselves through his dark, thick hair, gently stroking his head. It was the first time she had ever had the freedom to do so without the barrier of the mask.

Breaking apart for air, Diego sighed gently. "I will forgive you, Querida, but only if you break up with Zorro." He gazed at her longingly. "I want you all to myself," he whispered.

She looked at Diego's face, his deep blue eyes twinkling at her now with no mask surrounding them, shining with all the love that had been held back before. "I have waited a long time for you, Victoria, my love."

Victoria looked affectionately into the eyes of the man she had adored for so long. "I think that can be arranged, Diego, mi Querido. But first I might need to be persuaded a bit more," she said demurely, fluttering her lashes at him.

"I can be _very_ persuasive, mi Preciosa," he grinned cheekily. His arms tightened around her as he took her lips in another breathtaking kiss.

_**Fini**_


End file.
